{"id":559,"date":"2022-05-06T21:58:49","date_gmt":"2022-05-07T03:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/?p=559"},"modified":"2022-05-06T21:58:49","modified_gmt":"2022-05-07T03:58:49","slug":"bringing-light-through-good-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/2022\/05\/06\/bringing-light-through-good-driving\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing Light Through Good Driving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Driving a motor vehicle on public roadways is a nearly universal experience for Americans. According to Hedges & Company, about 89% of adult Americans have a driver’s license (https:\/\/hedgescompany.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/number-of-licensed-drivers-usa\/<\/a>). Since we’re all out there on the same roads and since motor vehicles can be dangerous equipment, it makes sense for us all to be on our best behavior on the public roadways. But as most drivers can attest, best behavior can be hard to find on the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the Lightward Bound perspective, the way people drive can be a source of light or darkness, depending on attitudes and actions of drivers. As with how we treat people at other times, the way we treat each other on the streets and highways matters. Living in a community with others only works well when we strive to get along with them, treating them respectfully and remembering their intrinsic worth. I believe that our general view of the nature of people and what we believe they’re worth manifests itself most strongly in our anonymous interactions with them, such as when we drive on the roads with others or as we disagree on social media. These are areas where darkness can fester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some time ago, I came up with labels for two extremes of driver types: the polite, precision driver and the rude, risky driver. It should be obvious that the polite, precision driver is the one we’d rather have near us on the road. The rude, risky driver is a threat to everyone on the road and often makes others feel angry or hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every time I hear of (or see the aftermath of) an automobile accident in the Tooele area, I wonder how much rude, risky driving behavior may have contributed. It makes me a little sad and a little angry to think that the darkness of accidents and injuries could have been prevented if drivers chose to be polite, precision drivers. In one of those accidents, a friend and her daughter ended up in a hospital because another driver went through a red light as our friend started to move into the intersection. Another accident had traffic backed up for miles, delaying many residents in their travels. Do our own wants and needs justify putting others at increased risk? Do they justify inconvenience to masses of other drivers, while officials clean up the mess? The 2016 Tooele County community health assessment said unhealthy behaviors are a significant concern for the county and included motor vehicle deaths as part of those behavior concerns (p.24; you can download the report here: Tooele County Health Assessment<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rules of the road are intended to help keep travelers safer and help traffic flow more smoothly. The precision driver does his best to follow the rules. And treating people politely and respectfully should just be the norm in any human interaction. Below are some sample behaviors of each type of driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polite, Precision Driver<\/strong>
Strives to always be alert and focused while driving.
Makes every effort to keep in his own lane.
Stops behind the stop lines (or stop sign) at red lights and stop signs.
Attempts to follow all the traffic signs and rules.
Believes the only justification for disobeying the rules would be to avoid immediate dangers to himself and others.
Keeps a good distance between himself and the car ahead (I recommend at least one-second of travel time between vehicles)
Gently approaches other vehicles stopped at a light or stop sign.
Waits to speed up until close to the speed limit sign that increases the limit.
Takes it slow through parking lots and other congested areas.
Gives priority to speed limits and other traffic rules, over personal preferences.
Plans to leave enough time to make it there without speeding or losing patience.
Shows respect for others when passing, by moving over well before reaching the car ahead, passing gently (without fanfare), and moving back to the original lane well after passing the other car.
Communicates intentions using turn signals, giving plenty of notice beforehand.
Tries to work with other drivers so everyone can get to their destinations safely, with minimum aggravation.
Anticipates the actions of others–and their needs (e.g. will they need room to move over at this merge?)
Always tries to be patient with other drivers.
Sees other drivers as fellow travelers and fellow humans in a common pursuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rude, Risky Driver<\/strong>
Ignores speed limits; when he gets the chance will exceed them by 10 or 20 mph or more.
Ignores traffic markings on the road when he thinks he can gain some ground.
You’ll see him drifting out of his lane, perhaps distracted by his cell phone activities or something else.
He will approach a slower vehicle from behind and get as close as he can, as if he is trying to push them down the road.
When behind a slower driver, he may abruptly swing over to the other lane and then stomp on the gas to let the driver know “you’re too slow”, and then quickly pull back into the lane, just in front of the car he passed (though there weren’t other cars nearby).
Sees two lanes merging and makes aggressive efforts to merge in front of others.
Sees the yellow light ahead and speeds through as it turns red.
Sees driving as a competition at every light, merge, or lane change.
Sees travel to his <\/em>destination as more important than other people’s travels or the law.
He will squeeze into the tightest spaces between cars to change lanes just for a chance to get ahead.
May feel that he satisfied the requirement to signal by giving a single flash or he might just abandon signaling altogether.
May travel for miles in a highway’s left lane, while going slower than most of the others.
Seems to believe he lives above the rules of the road and that what happens to others on the road is their problem.
If he drives a big pickup or semi, likes to intimidate other drivers by coming up close behind to display a large view of his front end in their rear-view mirror.
May make a right turn by making his own lane, where there is no lane, so he doesn’t have to wait.
Sees other drivers as competition to beat, or maybe idiots or stupid people that don’t belong on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What kind of driver are you? Most of us are perhaps a little of both. But let’s work on being more like the polite, precision driver and less like the rude, risky driver. Let’s be a source of light, even on the roads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Driving a motor vehicle on public roadways is a nearly universal experience for Americans. According to Hedges & Company, about 89% of adult Americans have a driver’s license (https:\/\/hedgescompany.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/number-of-licensed-drivers-usa\/). Since we’re all out there on the same roads and since motor vehicles can be dangerous equipment, it makes sense for us all to be on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,264,8],"tags":[270,278,267,275,268,271,272,273,274,269,276,277,266,265],"class_list":["post-559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rules-law-obedience-conformity-rebellion","category-thoughts-on-driving","category-tooele-county-utah","tag-car","tag-driver","tag-driving","tag-motor-vehicle","tag-polite","tag-precision","tag-risk","tag-risky","tag-roadway","tag-rude","tag-share-the-road","tag-traffic","tag-truck","tag-vehicle"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":563,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions\/563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}